Lentil Soup (Ezogelin) - Turkish Lentil and Bulgur Soup Recipe
Turkish lentil soup, ezogelin, made with beef broth from a cup of lentils and half a cup of bulgur, which gives 2 servings. Cooking time is a tricky question: my lentils and bulgur took 35 minutes, so I taste and stir often, or everything settles on the bottom and burns. The soup stands for 10 minutes before serving.
Lentil soup is probably on the menu of every nation. Lentil is one of the oldest cultivated food plants and is mentioned in the Bible. In the biblical story, a pottage of lentils became the price of the birthright between the brothers Jacob and Esau. A legume native to Asia, lentil is still one of the most important crops there. Mostly the seeds are eaten, either whole or ground into flour. For many peoples lentils are the main source of plant protein.
In Asia Minor, in Turkey, lentils are a staple food in some regions. Lentil soups are also very common and well loved there.
I remember trying a very tasty lentil soup while staying at a luxurious Turkish hotel. For some reason the name stuck with me: Ezogelin çorbası. It is a fairly thick, smooth soup of lentils cooked until soft. It is about as widespread in Turkey, with as many variations, as Ukrainian red borscht. There is no single recipe, and there can't be. The base is lentils and coarsely ground wheat (bulgur). Everyone has their own spices.
The name of the soup is a subject of its own. There is a sweet story about a Turkish girl named Ezo who lived more than a century ago in northern Turkey. Amid personal and family troubles, the girl cooked a lentil soup, which was later named Ezo gelin çorbası. Literally it means “Bride Ezo's soup”. Since then every bride cooks this soup on the eve of her wedding, a sort of master class multiplied by the “viewing” by the groom's family.
Ironically, if you write Ezo gelin as one word, ezogelin, the translation turns out quite prosaic: lentil. Whether this is chance or an attempt to fit a legend to the cooking doesn't matter. Turkish lentil soup is exceptionally tasty and filling, and warms you up nicely in cool weather. It is also extremely simple to make, no harder than a white bean soup.
After going through a large number of articles titled “recipe: lentil soup”, I came to the conclusion that there is no consensus. There are as many recipes as there are people. Often you also see lentil purée soup or red lentil soup. I settled on a recipe I happened to write down in a lovely little place on the border of Bulgaria and Turkey. The owner kindly told me about it and even gave me a small book, which, unfortunately, I lent to someone and it never came back. But the recipe stayed.
We are making a tasty soup of lentils, wheat groats and tomato. It is about to turn cold outside, and a soup like this for dinner will be just right. It's not simply tasty, it's very tasty! Highly recommended!
By the way, I have another way of making lentil soup, a simpler one.
To serve with soup
Homemade White Bread in the OvenEasy homemade white bread baked in the oven: a simple yeast dough of flour, water, salt and sugar, shaped into baguettes. Step-by-step photo recipe.
Crispy CroutonsCrispy homemade croutons for beer: a white loaf, dried green onion, rock salt and a little olive oil, dried in the microwave in 20-30 minutes.
Garlic PampushkySoft Ukrainian garlic pampushky for borscht: yeast buns baked until pale golden, then soaked in garlic, dill and oil sauce. Step-by-step recipe with photos.Ingredients
2 servings
- Lentils 1 cup
- Wheat groats or bulgur 0.5 cup
- Onion 1
- Tomato paste 1 tbsp
- Beef bones for the broth 1-2
- Butter 1 tbsp
- Spices: coarsely ground hot pepper, dried mint, thyme, salt to taste
Step-by-step recipe
- Turkish Ezo gelin lentil soup is very often called “wedding soup”. That is not right. Turkish wedding soup is made from lamb's head with yogurt added. In Turkish it is Düğün Çorbası, and ezogelin is rather a bride's soup, not a wedding one.Recipes often call for rice instead of wheat groats. Perhaps big cities do use rice, but in the Turkish countryside that is very unlikely.
- Coarsely ground hot pepper gives the soup its special charm, flavor and aroma, sprinkled lightly over the soup before serving.
- Bulgur, the wheat groats most often recommended for lentil soup, is made of wheat kernels that are steamed or treated with hot water, then dried and cracked. But that is exotic. Ordinary wheat groats sold in any shop will do perfectly well.
- Lentils are very healthy, so cook with them more often. I admit I had never cooked lentils before. I consulted “knowledgeable” people, who advised soaking the lentils beforehand, and the wheat groats too. Rinse the grains separately and soak in cold water for a few hours.
- First you need to make a beef broth. In principle, every second recipe advises using plain water, who knows… Bring 1.5 liters of water to a boil in a pot and add a few beef bones or a piece of meat. As soon as foam appears, skim it off. Simmer the broth over low heat for 1-1.5 hours. No spices and no salt. You just need a plain broth.
- Now we make the lentil soup.
- Melt a piece of butter in the soup pot, about 1 tbsp. For obvious reasons it is better to take butter rather than a vegetable fat blend.
- Peel the onion and chop it finely. Fry the onion in the pot, stirring, until it just starts to turn golden. The Turks advised taking a sweet onion, and the sweetest we found was the elongated purple one. Still, as life shows, any fried onion is very sweet and tasty.
- Bring the broth prepared for the soup to a boil in a separate pot.
- In a cup, dilute 1 heaped spoon of tomato paste with some of the broth. Pour the tomato paste into the onion, stir and let it simmer for 2-3 mins. Add salt.
- Drain the water from the lentils and wheat groats. Add the lentils to the pot and stir.
- Right away add the wheat groats to the soup.
- Pour the boiling broth into the pot. Stir everything thoroughly so that the lentils and wheat groats don't clump together or stick to the bottom of the pot.
- The soup needs to be stirred with a spoon quite often while cooking, otherwise all the grains will settle on the bottom and burn. Cook the soup for 10 mins, stirring.
- Add 0.5 tsp of dried mint. Most recipes recommend this spice. Cumin is often added to the soup too. Instead of cumin, I would recommend adding a little dried thyme. Also salt the soup to taste.
- Cook the soup over very low heat, stirring quite often. The broth should barely simmer. Cooking time is a tricky question. The lentils and wheat groats need to cook completely. For me it took 35 mins. You have to taste it.
- As soon as the grains are done, take the lentil soup off the heat and let it stand a little. Don't eat piping-hot soup, as you can burn your tongue and not taste the wonderful dish. Let the soup stand for 10 mins.
- Ladle the soup into bowls, or better still into small Turkish bowls, and be sure to sprinkle with a pinch of coarsely ground hot chili pepper. Serve.
| Yield: | 2 servings |
| Calories: | 38 kcal per 100 g |
| Prep: | 60 mins |
| Cook: | 60 mins |
| Total: | 120 mins |
| Category: | Soups › Meat Soups |
| Cuisine: | Middle Eastern |
| Rating: |
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5
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